The 76th Hunger Games, Only One Chance Part II
by The Minun
Summary: The sequel to The 76th Hunger Games Part I! (You should all read it) The games finally begin, with us following ALL 24 tributes, and seeing how each and everyone of them dies! So fun right?
1. Chapter 1

**YEAH THE 76TH HUNGER GAMES! WHOO HOO! READ AND REVIEW!**

* * *

60.59.58.  
Sapphire eyed the Cornucopia with a determined look.  
57.56.55.  
The girl from 10 was on Quidley's right and she would not stay still. He frowned at her before focusing his attention back on the clock.  
54.53.52.  
Achilles saw a huge sword sticking out of the ground about 50 yards away.  
51.50.49.  
Andi readied herself to dash into the forest.  
48.47.46.  
Jupiter shivered as the wind slightly picked up.  
45.44.43.  
Mandy was shaking and it was all she could do to not fall off the silver platform.  
42.41.40.  
Ricky's stomach turned at the thought of the bloodshed that was about to occur.  
39.38.  
Allen realized she had no idea what she was going to do.  
37.36.  
Jason's hand went to his pocket to make sure the cardstock was still there.  
35.34.  
Roberta's nerves were finally starting to get the better of her.  
33.32.  
Lina was one of the few who had eaten breakfast that morning. She regretted it.  
31.30.  
Jack just knew he wouldn't make it past the first day.  
29.28.  
Roxanne found herself wishing she was stuck in her tube after all.  
27.26.25.  
Jay was in between Achilles and Quidley. He's not happy about that...  
24.23.  
Even then, Ashley was wondering why the Careers had chosen her.  
22.21.  
The pounding of the countdown clock was fraying Salley's nerves.  
20.  
Now would be a really bad time to throw up, thought Warren.  
19.18.17.  
Gil doubted being able to wrestle a cow would come in handy here.  
16.15.14.  
Chris found Cherry, four tributes to his left.  
13.12.11.  
Cherry was wondering if her plan was really that good after all.  
10.9.8.  
David decided not to stay and fight at the Cornucopia.  
7.6.5.  
Dina's palms were sweating. Only five seconds...  
4.3.2.  
Hey it's a big field! Good for running! I like to run! Think I will!  
Cass took off with a powerful leap-  
**BOOM**  
The tributes on either side of Cass, Quidley and Roxanne, were sprayed with blood as Cass Wilson was blown sky-high. She was the first to die. None of the tributes had noticed the gong, which had gone off about the same time as Cass's cannon, but all 23 of them quickly regained their wits.  
And the 76h Hunger Games began.

Achilles took off toward the Cornucopia and picked up the huge double-edged sword he'd spotted earlier. Ricky and Sapphire were also at the Cornucopia, Sapphire had grabbed a bow and arrows, and Ricky clutched two long daggers so hard his knuckles turned white.  
Further out Quidley was holding the boy from 6 at bay with a spear.  
This is it, Achilles thought. It was what he had been training for his whole life. He ran to the edge of the pinecone field and saw a girl who had been running away. It was over in less than a second.  
BOOM  
Jack, Roxanne, and Jupiter were crouched in the bushes at the edge of the field. They would have ran farther away but Cobalt, Gil, and Jay were all still in the fight.  
"Whose cannon was that?" Roxanne asked worriedly.  
Jack shrugged, but Jupiter replied, "Girl from 12 I think."

Everything was a blur around Lina after the girl from 10 had jumped off her platform. A boy was fighting the boy from 1 near her, and the boy from 1 shoved him off and ran to join the other Careers. As the other boy was turned around Lina saw who it was. Cobalt! He had a short sword that he dropped suddenly. Just then the girl from 8 threw a knife at the back of his head, and he ducked to retrieve his sword right before it hit him and instead the knife buried itself in the center of Lina's forehead.  
**BOOM**  
As soon as the gong went off Jason dashed to the right into the woods. There would be no fighting for him yet. Not until he read the cardstock. He reached into his pocket to make sure again that it was still there. He breathed a sigh of relief when it was, and the next second he was up to his knees in muck.

Almost all the tributes had run for it, and the ones stupid enough to stay and fight were rethinking it.  
Sapphire hadn't had any kills yet and it was driving her crazy. The girl from 5 ran by clutching a blue backpack. Sapphire grabbed her arm as she went by, causing her to trip. Sapphire took out a stiletto knife and pointed it at the girl's throat.  
She struggled to get away but it was no use.  
"Nice and shiny, isn't it?" Sapphire asked. "And very sharp too." She tried again to pull away. "Would you like to get a closer look?" the knife came closer to Roberta, and Sapphire whispered to her, "You're dead, you know that?"  
"Just do it already!" says an exasperated voice, causing Sapphire to look up. Of course, it's Quidley.  
She was annoyed at the interruption, but she did what he said.  
**BOOM**

Chris spotted Cherry dart off her platform and took off after her. First he ran to the middle and grabbed a green backpack, some food, and a couple knives, and caught up to Cherry before she could get away.  
"It's okay, it's me, Chris," he said.  
"What are you doing?!" she hissed angrily.  
Chris didn't answer, he just pulled her through the woods until he came to the west side cliff face. He found a small outcropping and guided her into it. He tossed her the backpack, a bag of dried fruit, and a couple small knives.  
"Here, this should keep you for a while. I know you don't want to be allies, that's okay. I'm just helping you out here. Don't leave the cave. I'll come check on you in a couple days all right?"  
He left the area, feeling like for the first time since catching Forrest Vyle, he'd done something right.

"They're all gone," said Achilles. "They all ran for it."  
"How many...kills" asked Ricky.  
"Three. Four if you count the girl who exploded."  
"Three?" Quidley exclaimed. "That's way too small!"  
"Well you could have killed the boy from 6 but you DIDN'T" Sapphire retorted. "At least I had one kill."  
"So did I," said Achilles.  
"Hey wait a minute... where's 8?" Quidley asked suddenly.  
"Probably had to get away from you," Sapphire said. "I might too."  
Ouch. That hurt a lot more than it should have. Just then she came around the back of the Cornucopia. "I was checking out that castle," she explained.  
"Yeah what's with that castle?" Achilles asked. "You guys see what it says... Memento Mori?"  
"Huh...that seems kind of familiar..." Ricky said, frowning in concentration.  
"Quidley knows," Sapphire said.  
The Careers all looked at him.  
Quidley was looking at the ground when he spoke. "Yes, she's right. I do know what it means. It's a Latin phrase-"  
"Skip the history lesson dude," Ricky groaned.  
"-Translated to English means 'Remember You Will Die.' It's rather morbid," Quidley said when he saw Ricky wince, "But I can see why they would put it in their arena. It's the point of the Games isn't it? In the end we're all going to die."  
Achilles cleared his throat awkwardly. "You know what guys, Quidley was right, We didn't have many kills. Why don't we go on a hunt?"

Jason could barely move his legs in the marsh. It even seemed to be sucking him down slowly, kind of like quicksand. He knew there was something you had to do when you were stuck in quicksand, but even though his mind was racing to remember, he couldn't.  
He remembered it just as someone else said it.  
"Float on your back."  
"Who's there?" he called. No answer.  
"Just do it!" came the voice again. He was pretty sure it was a girl.  
"I know, I know!" he replied angrily, and started to float. Then there was a rustling sound and a thud. Jason could hear Careers laughter.  
"Heyyy we got one!" said one of the girls. Sapphire.  
"I get this one," snapped Quidley. "I'm the only one who hasn't got a kill."  
"Neither does 4," Sapphire pointed out.  
"He doesn't want this one, it's his District partner," Quidley said. "Well, do you?"  
Ricky had slightly turned away from the sight of his district partner at the Careers' mercy. "I'll take the next one," he managed to say.  
"See, I told you," Quidley said.  
"Stop arguing guys!" Achilles barked. "Here you go Quidley." he tossed him a sword.  
**BOOM**  
The Careers hadn't noticed Jason, because their voices were fading away in the late afternoon air. He scrambled out of the marsh, trampling lots of reeds, and he slid down onto his knees by a massive pine tree at the edge of the woods. He took out the cardstock and unfolded it. He read it.  
And he read it again, sure he'd misunderstood what he'd read.

"You idiots were so lucky you weren't killed!" Roxanne exclaimed.  
"None of us were killed Roxanne, we're all still here," Gil said.  
"We're all just fine," Cobalt added, looking slightly scared of Roxanne.  
"You nearly had a knife in your skull Fensworth!"  
Jupiter was sitting next to Jack and he whispered, "Careers!"  
Jack sat up. "You're right!" Before he could say anything Jay interrupted.  
"Roxanne, you're going to have the whole Career pack down on our heads before you can even tell me how much of an idiot I am,"  
"He's right, Roxanne," Jack said desperately. "Now let's do something quieter like see what supplies we have."  
"All right," Jay said, picking up a midnight blue colored backpack. "Let's see what goodies I got." He started to look around in the bag, and pulled out several things, a bag of nuts, a thick rope, a wool blanket, and a small metal water bottle that was empty.  
Gil had a black bag that was considerably smaller than Jay's but had a package of beef jerky and a box of matches.  
All Cobalt had gotten was the short sword he had been fighting with at the bloodbath.  
"I got this while I was running away," Jupiter said, holding up a pack of crackers.  
"All right well let's put everything in Jay's backpack," said Roxanne.  
"Too bad I didn't see any pancakes at the Cornucopia," Gil commented.

Mandy and Andi had walked around the edge of the arena for most of the day, checking to see if there were any others around before talking.  
Andi had done most of the talking, actually, bad-mouthing the Careers, particularly Achilles Thornton.  
"He seemed all right to me," Mandy said after a violent rant by Andi.  
"Well he's not" was Andi's only reply. "Do you think we should find somewhere to sleep?" she said, changing the subject.  
"Yeah," Mandy agreed. Dusk was falling and the Capitol would be playing the anthem any minute. Neither of them had gotten any supplies at the Cornucopia so they just laid down in the pine needle grass.  
The anthem played and the faces shown in the sky were the girls from 4,5,6,and 12.  
Mandy briefly wondered where her district partner Jupiter was but the thought escaped her mind as she fell asleep.

The Careers trudged through the forest, unhappy with the results of their hunt. They had only gotten the girl from 4!  
They had left Ashley (most of the Careers just referred to her as 8) on guard at the Cornucopia.  
Achilles and Ricky were leading the pack, talking to each other in a quiet tone, which unfortunately left Sapphire with Quidley.  
Looking over at him, he appeared to be deep in thought. But he usually looked like that.  
"Hey... Sapphire?"  
She was startled to hear him talk without sounding sarcastic for the second time that day.  
"What?"  
"I was thinking-"  
"What else is new?" she interrupted. That guy was always thinking.  
"How did you know I knew what Memento Mori meant?" The question had been bothering him all day. "Besides that I'm an amazing genius..."  
"The only thing amazing about you is your ego."  
"Well how did you know?" he asked again.  
"You said it..." she said, surprised he didn't remember.  
"I... what?"  
"You said it, at the reaping."  
"I..."  
He never got to finish his sentence because then they arrived at the Cornucopia and Achilles set him on guard duty for the night.


	2. Chapter 2

Warren was jolted out of his sleep early that morning by a low growl somewhere off to his right. He'd fallen asleep under a large pine tree the night before and it had taken him forever to fall asleep.

He had definitely heard something that sounded like a growl. Then he heard it again! ...And realized it was his stomach. Since he hadn't eaten breakfast the day before in worries he would throw up on someone, he was very hungry. Scrambling up, he walked a couple yards, and right into a thorny bush. It was all he could do to not cry out in pain. Then he looked down and saw what was growing on the bush he'd walked into.

Berries! (A.N And to You Warren for your arrest. Thats my nickname for him, WHY YOU FOOL? ARE YOU STOUPID!)

Kale needed to know what was on the cardstock. Jason's brother, the rebel, Kale, really needed to know. Jason had decided to not let that paper out of his sight. Ever. Before he had stolen it from Psych he had been totally fine with the fact that he was going to die. But now he needed to win. He needed to win because he needed to tell his brother what he had seen!

_Psych-_

_I know you are loyal to the Capitol. I know you would do this. You are a stylist. Your life is devoted to designing and creating clothes. Knowing this, you WILL create two thousand white uniforms with the seal of Panem in gold on the chest for the crew of my ship, the Midnight see I have been informed by a trusted source that there is more out there than just Panem. There are other places, just like us, who will be willing to aid in our ever present war against the rebels. The rebels are still out there. Not all have given up. But soon they will see that we will always be victorious regardless of how many "mockingjays" they may come up with._  
_~C. Snow_  
_If you refuse the task or let slip my plan then I happen to know you have a nice large family right here in the Capitol._

"Wake up Quidley!"

"Give him a break, he was on guard duty last night," said Ricky.

"If he does not wake up in ten seconds I am going to go over to that nice big pile of weapons we have over there and-"

"Stop yelling, I'm trying to sleep," said a drowsy Quidley.

Ricky laughed. "Well he woke up!"

Ashley and Achilles came back to the Cornucopia after scouting for any sleeping tributes.

"None?" asked Sapphire.

"No," Achilles replied. "They've hidden themselves pretty well!"

Quidley, who had fully woken up, picked up the sharp, thick spear had been using the day before. "Well then. I guess we'll have to go flush them out!"

Jack had woken up later than he'd wanted to, partly because of the fact it was so dark. HE groaned.

"Overcast AGAIN?!" He yelled at the sky. "Come on Gamemakers!"

"Hey now you're the one going to get us killed!" Roxanne complained.

The other boys, Gil, Jay, Cobalt, and Jupiter, had woken up and were stretching.

"So what's for breakfast?" Jay asked.

"Oh I could really go for some of my mom's pancakes," Gil groaned.

"Okay dude, enough about you mom's pancakes!" Jupiter cried.

"But... they're really good!"

Salley had felt lonely from the moment she left the fighting at the bloodbath the day before. She knew she wasn't the only loner in the arena, but she was almost certain she was the most boring.

**The Capitol**

"Here it is, as promised." the Junior Gamemaker showed his creation to Mikah, who nodded in delight.

"This is great! I mean this is really great! You could possibly be my successor if you keep up the great work!"

"You really mean it?"

"Yes!"

"So when do we let them loose?"

"This afternoon."

**The Arena**

Warren had eaten enough berries to fill him for a lifetime. There had to have been hundreds, if not thousands of berries in that patch of bushes  
he had come across.

But at around noon he began to experience a most peculiar sensation. It was like there were thorns in his stomach and it was really bothering him. He decided he had eaten too much and the feeling would go away within the hour.

One hour later, the pain had only intensified. He didn't even feel the need to throw up, there was just severe pain in his abdominal area. Every movement felt like a Career stabbing him with the sharpest knife in Panem.

He let out a tortured cry and sank to the forest floor, writhing in pain.

David stopped by a spring to cool down. Even almost a year afterward, his burns still occasionally stung and the icy cold water was the perfect thing to soothe them. He leaned down closer to the water, and when he looked up he was face to face with another tribute.

"I'm not going to kill you!" Chris said quickly

"Good because I was hoping I wouldn't have to kill you either," David rasped.

"I'm going to leave you alone, okay?" Chris asked.

"Fine," David said indifferently. As the two boys were drinking, a pair of girls came into the clearing with the spring.

Andi and Mandy looked at the boys awkwardly, and were about to leave when with a sudden motion five objects flew out of the forest.

Looking closer, Andi saw that they weren't just objects. They appeared to be birds! They couldn't be though. The angles were too sharp to be natural, and their feathers glinted brightly even though it was cloudy. And Andi had never seen any animal that color: such a deep shade of black they were almost purple.

Andi came to the conclusion just as David shouted it in his odd raspy voice:

**"MUTTATIONS!"**


	3. Chapter 3

**The Caesar Flickerman Show!  
**  
"It's getting intense now folks!" Caesar exclaimed.

He was behind the usual desk with Claudius Templesmith, narrating the year's Games just like usual. "Could you get me a picture?" Caesar asked one of the set crew.

While half the screen remained on the four tributes at the spring, the other half was filled up by a picture of the odd birds.

"A new Muttation for this year!" Caesar announced. "They were invented by a Junior Gamemaker named-" he checked his notes- "Shark Vallar!"

"Let's tell them what they are, Caesar," Claudius suggested.

"Good idea Claudius! These here are called Nightlock Hawks! Their feathers are actually blades that are fatal when one is impaled by them due to the poison on the tips! And get this, the blade-feathers can lift up and out, and a purple gas is let loose. The fumes, like the blade-feather tips, are highly poisonous and can kill if you breathe in just one breath of it! And their dark color is of course a reference to the deadly berry!

Now everyone, it's back to the tributes!"

**The Arena**

The four of them took off running through the woods. Andi and Chris were the fastest, with David not far behind and Mandy struggling to keep up. Her breath came in short, shallow gasps, and no matter how many breaths she took, there was not enough air in her lungs. The stitch in her side was unbearable, and she was running in a lopsided fashion while clutching the left side of her stomach.

The muttations were almost on her. She then couldn't see a thing in the hazy purple smoke that surrounded her. Dazed, she tried to take in more breaths but for some reason it was even harder to breathe. Black spots swam in her vision as she struggled to breathe...  
**  
BOOM**

Back at the Cornucopia the Careers were just settling down for lunch. Achilles got out a sack of apples and passed it around the Careers. As

Ricky bit into his apple he thought he heard someone scream from farther away.

Achilles lifted his head, wide eyed. "Andi!" he said under his breath.

Quidley, Sapphire, and Ashley also looked up.

Then David, Chris, and Andi ran into the meadow, breathing hard. The Careers all dropped their apples and stood up to see what was going on.  
Then the Nightlock Hawks cleared the forest and Quidley was the first Career to understand.

"They're mutts!" he yelled. All five of them ran after the other tributes who were about to reach the opposite end of the meadow from where they had run in.

There were eight of them now, running through the woods like there was no tomorrow.

"Alright guys, it looks like we've got to ration," Jack said, handing everyone a couple pieces of beef jerky. Everyone looked at their lunch in sadness.

Then the tributes dashed by them, and they looked up in surprise. When the birds came into the clearing, they too jumped up and started to run.

Cobalt, who had just come around a tree, had no idea the Nightlock Hawks were there, and he came face to face with them. His eyes widened in shock and horror and the mutts swarmed him. He managed to get his face above the flock of Hawks to let out a strangled cry, and one of the

Hawks skewered his throat. He sank back down and the birds all started to impale him with their blade-feathers.

The tributes who had been running had stopped to see that they were no longer being pursued. Only a few of them could watch the gory killing of Cobalt as the Hawks were pecking him and slicing him with their feathers in so many places he was hardly recognizable.

The last thing they saw of him was his face bloody and disfigured before the  
**  
BOOM**

As soon as it was clear the birds were not going to be chasing anyone at least for a while, Andi ran back to the spot where Mandy had fallen. The two girls hadn't known each other for very long, but for the short time that they did they had become very close. She was the only friend Andi had had in the arena.

When she reached the spot she saw the hovercraft had already come to get her body. She kneeled at the place where the grass was slightly flattened and her eyes started to fill with tears. She said a silent goodbye to her ally and then stood up. She could only mourn for so long in this evil place.

Jack and Gil stepped forward to their dead friend's body after the flock of Mutts flew away, but Jay, Jupiter, and Roxanne stayed back at the horror of what had just happened.

"The hovercraft will be coming any second," Gil said, and right as he did there was the whistle that indicated its arrival. The two boys stepped back to join their friends and watched silently as the body of Cobalt was lifted up and away.

**District 3**

Clera Guardson watched, mouth agape in horror at what had happened to her sister. Her parents were sitting together on the couch, hardly daring to look but feeling a need to see the fate of their daughter.

Mandy was shown collapsing in the purple smoke then there was the cannon and the TV editors did a smash cut to the Cornucopia, where the

Mutts interrupted the Careers' lunch.

Clera broke down in heavy sobs. That should have been her.

**The Arena**

For the rest of the afternoon, Achilles could not shake the image of the mutts violently killing the boy from 6 and picturing Andi in his place. He wished more than ever that she hadn't turned down the Careers.

The same thing was happening to Quidley, except it was not Andi he was seeing but his own district partner. He kept looking at her with quick glances to make sure she was still there and not on a hovercraft back to District 1. Whenever he caught himself doing that he mentally kicked himself. The last thing he needed was to be going crazy now!

Ashley was thinking about her brother Jay. He was in an alliance with the boy who was killed and it could have just as easily been him overwhelmed by the Mutts.

Ricky was haunted by the sight of the boy's bloody face that was his last view before the cannon. It was only the second day! He shuddered at the thought of what was to come.

Sapphire was just pretty bored. Achilles had said no hunts for a while and they were all just sitting in the meadow. Although it was cloudy it had gotten quite warm and humid, and they had all taken off their black jackets.

For the billionth time in the last hour, she saw Quidley look at her for a second before staring at the ground again. It was really starting to get on her nerves!

Cherry had stayed in the cave like Chris had said, eating the dried fruit he gave her. As much as she hated it, she hoped this would help in her plan. Oh it will, she thought while fingering one of the knives Chris had given her.

Jason had been one of four tributes not present at the mutts killings. He was sticking close to the marsh because he knew the Careers would avoid it, not wanting to risk getting stuck.

He thought about how to tell his brother what he had read, but he could think of nothing. He couldn't just yell it at the clouds, because the Capitol would never let anyone see that, and then they would probably think of some foolproof way to kill him.

Then he heard a noise coming from the direction of the moss. He watched in confusion as at least twenty snakes slithered out of the reeds. He had never seen that kind of snake before, but he didn't live near a marsh. It was probably some kind of Mutt anyway. He picked up a pinecone, which was the only ammunition he could find, and chucked it at the snake as hard as he could. It didn't seem to do anything except make it mad, then he felt something scald his left lower leg.

He felt another rush by his head, narrowly missing, and realized it was the snake spitting acid. He could only limp with his injured leg, but he tried to escape into the woods. He ended up tripping on a root and sprawling on the ground. He scrambled up and did an awkward crawl to the tree line. He leaned against the trunk of a tree, not wanting to look at his leg but decided to not put off the moment any longer.

The sight of it was almost enough to make him pass out. Half his leg was burned away and he looked even worse than the boy from 12. The injury was deep and he could see the bone. And the pain was terrible. His leg felt like it was on fire, and he gritted his teeth to stop from screaming at the top of his lungs

Dusk was falling, and Jay turned to his allies in regret. "Sorry guys, we don't have enough food, just the bag of nuts and half of the beef jerky."

"Do any of you guys know how to hunt?" Roxanne asked.

"Even if we did what would be the use?" Jack reminded her. "The only weapon we have is this," he held up Cobalt's sword.

Gil sighed. "I can handle a shotgun pretty well."

"Not a chance," Jupiter said. "They wouldn't give us one of those."

Jay groaned and looked up at the sky. He shot up from his sitting position. "Did you guys see that!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah!" said Gil with a laugh. He reached up and caught the gun with one hand and took off the silver parachute.

"Is there a note attached?" Roxanne asked.

Gil checked. "Yeah there is, it's for Jack." He handed over the note.

Jack read, "You guys could only get this thing if I promised you wouldn't kill the other tributes so don't okay? Your family would get killed and there would be a lot of paperwork for me. ~Johanna"

Gil hefted the gun. "This is almost exactly like my gun back in 10," He told them. "This should be no problem!"

All day, the pain had not let up. Warren groaned as he had a temporary relief. He knew soon the pain would come back even stronger.

"Okay guard duty tonight," Achilles announced. "Me."

"You sure?" asked Ricky.

"Positive." Achilles knew even if he wasn't on guard he wouldn't get any sleep with the image of the mutts still haunting him.

"Well okay, have a good night and don't get eaten by anything," Ricky said, yawning.

Oh, it's not me I'm worried about, he thought.

The anthem played, showing only two faces that night, Mandy and Cobalt.

The next morning it was even more humid than it had been the day before. And cloudy again. As Andi woke up she wondered if it would rain before she started for the marsh. The night before she had snapped a branch off of a tree and tried to sharpen it to a point so she could try and catch frogs at the marsh.

After a couple rounds of the marsh and only one frog, she decided to be done. She wished she had some matches to light a fire, but instead had to do it the hard way. Depressed, she began to gather twigs and pine needles from the forest floor.

Achilles had agreed to a hunt that day, and the Careers decided to head for the edge of the arena, next to the cliff face.

"Wow, I wonder what the Gamemakers would do if someone climbed up that thing," Ricky remarked.

"Would anyone in the arena be stupid enough to do that?" Quidley asked in disbelief.

"My brother," Ashley said, and the Careers laughed.

Then Achilles caught a glimpse of something about fifty yards away. Quidley and Sapphire had seen it too.

"What was that?" she asked.

Achilles couldn't be sure, but he really thought it was Andi who had been running into the woods. "It was nothing," he lied.

Quidley shrugged and said, "Oh well," but Sapphire was looking at him in suspicion.

Then the Careers heard a shriek and they turned around as fast as they could to see Ashley a few yards back from them, pinned to the cliff face by a large bear.

"That's not a bear!" Quidley exclaimed. When Achilles, Sapphire, and Ricky looked closer they saw that he was right. The "bear" was a silvery grey color and had horns as sharp as the knife Ricky had.

"I can take it!" Achilles said and jumped at the strange animal with his sword.

"Don't do it!" Quidley yelled, but Achilles had already done it. The mutt roared and slashed at Achilles's chest with a powerful swipe. He fell backwards and his white T-shirt was almost completely stained with red.

Then the mutt turned back to Ashley. As Ricky got ready to lunge at the bear Sapphire said, "No wait, Quidley's right. We can't lose any more than we have to."

Quidley had ran as close as he dared to get Achilles and started to drag him away. "What are you guys still doing here?" He asked. "Get back to the Cornucopia!"

Ricky stopped to help drag Achilles, who was heavier than both of them, as the mutt started to devour Ashley.  
**  
BOOM**

"Was that Ashley or Achilles?" Ricky asked frantically.

"I think it was Ashley," Quidley panted.

When they got back to the Cornucopia, Sapphire was already there searching through the first aid supplies.

"Bandages, that's the most important thing," Ricky said. He had taken Achilles's black jacket and was using it to try and stop the flow of blood.

Sapphire threw some at him, and he quickly wrapped up the ugly wound.

"There's nothing in here that will help an injury that bad," she said.

Quidley looked up at the sky and yelled, "THIS WOULD BE A REALLY GOOD TIME FOR A SPONSOR!"

A couple minutes later the silver parachute came with the medicine and some extra bandages.

The remaining three Careers applied the medicine and changed the bandages around his chest.

"Now we can only hope it wasn't too late," Quidley said worriedly.

David was walking through the forest, looking for something edible. All he had gotten at the Cornucopia was a spear and some trail mix, and that was starting to run out. Something up ahead caught his eye. It was a patch of bushes, and it looked like they had berries! He rushed forward and began to pick them. He was about to start eating when he heard a moan. Startled, he looked down at his feet, where the noise had come from, and saw the boy from 9!

He appeared to be in terrible pain. He was clutching his stomach and giving terrible moans.

"S-Stomach," he gasped between moans. "I-It hurts!"

David lifted his spear, ready to bring it down on the boy, but then he looked at David with a scared expression and asked in a raspy voice,

"What's wrong with me?"

That one sentence made David stop with the spear still in the air. It had reminded him of another boy, laying in a hospital bed almost a year ago to the day, asking Plutarch Heavensbee that same question in that same voice.

Him.

He lowered the spear, and looked at the boy. "What's your name?"

"W-Warren,"

"Well Warren. Did you eat these?" Davis asked, holding out the berries.

He gave a frantic nod.

David sighed. "They were poisonous. You need some medicine and you need it soon."


	4. Chapter 4

**This is a loong one. It's pretty good. We have some deaths, and other thingys. Hehehehe Read adn Review! =) I like to call this one, Show The Kid How It's Done**

* * *

Jack woke everyone up and said, "I have an idea guys. The Careers have plenty of food don't they? We outnumber them even without Cobalt. I think we can take them!"

Roxanne, Jupiter, Jay, and Gil looked at him blankly.

"Come on guys! I really think we can!"

"With this?" Gil asked, holding up the sword.

"They're distracted. I walked down there about fifteen minutes ago. One of their guys, the big one from 2, is hurt."

"How?" Jay asked curiously, but Jack just said. "Dunno but he was staining the whole meadow red. The guy's hurt pretty bad."

"I don't think we should," said Jupiter uncertainly.

"Now that you say they're distracted yeah I think we should," Roxanne decided.

"It's a bad idea!" Jupiter protested.

"Are you with the group or not?" Jay asked, tired of the argument.

"I guess..." he mumbled.

"Alright then, we attack at noon."

Jason's leg hurt worse than ever, and he could do nothing except sit underneath the tree and try not to cry out in pain. Close to noon a girl came from the marsh, and she was holding her arm as if it might fall off.

Jason held his breath, hoping the girl wouldn't notice him, because he couldn't fight in his current state, but she didn't seem to be in any better shape than he was.

Then she caught sight of him and came over. She thrust a knife into his hands.

Jason was thoroughly confused. "Who are you?" He recalled seeing her in training but could not remember her name or District.

"S-Sally Lorcan," She hissed through her teeth. "Down by the m-marsh...Then these snakes...th-they...they..." she motioned to her arm. "End it," she whispered.

"Now," she motioned to the knife she had given him.

"You mean..."

"Yes!"

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, now...now d-do it!"

Jason held up the knife and closed his eyes.

**BOOM**

The Cornucopia was in view. The Careers were still helping Achilles and changing his bandages every few hours.

"Alright, it's now or never," Gil whispered. They had not brought the shotgun, because they knew it was no bluff when they said their families would be killed if they used it for anything other than hunting.

They jumped out of the forest and charged the Cornucopia. Sapphire, Quidley, and Ricky looked up in surprise. Jack, Roxanne, Gil, Jay, and Jupiter dashed into the  
Cornucopia and grabbed food, water bottles, and a couple weapons.

But as they were leaving Jay noticed his sister was not among the Careers. Oh no! What happened to her! Jay panicked. The moment of fear was his downfall. It gave Quidley just enough time to regain his senses and throw a spear directly at his chest.

**BOOM**

The others were already running into the forest, but Sapphire picked up her bow and arrows and aimed at the retreating raiders.

"Agh!" The arrow hit Jupiter in the shoulder. Jack and Gil grabbed him as he fell and pulled him along, forcing them to drop a couple swords, including Cobalt's.

When they got back to the place where they had been staying for the past few days they set Jupiter down on the ground.

Jay was dead, and Jupiter soon to join him, thought Jack as his eyes filled with tears.

"I'm sorry, Jupiter," he said. "It was my idea, if it wasn't for me you wouldn't be... dying..." He had to choke back a sob.

Roxanne was crying, too. "I agreed with him though," she said. "I should have tried to stop him like you did."

Gil leaned down next to him. "We're all sorry, Jupiter," he said softly.

Jupiter gave them a weak smile. "It...It's okay guys. Y-You were...you ARE my best f-friends. I...I wouldn't ever blame... you guys... in a million y-years."

His eyes closed but there was no cannon. Gil, Jack, and Roxanne just sat by him for the next two hours, not saying anything. Unlike with Cobalt's and Jay's deaths they could be with him when he died. For most of the day they sat with him. Then around 5:00 came the

**BOOM**

The three of them got up and stood back as the hovercraft came to retrieve their friend.

Jason was shocked when that evening he saw a silver parachute float down to him. He grabbed it and read the note attached. This was bought with all the sponsor money you've got, so don't waste it all right kid?

He smiled and lifted up the lid of the jar. He didn't actually know what it was, but he could figure out it was medicine for his hurt leg.

Ricky's face was pale at the sight of Achilles so badly hurt. "Well he isn't dead yet. I think he can make it," he said.

"I can't believe it, that was my last arrow," said Sapphire angrily. "I hope it was worth it!"

"Well, you'll see," said Quidley, pointing at the sky. Sure enough, Jupiter was the first face shown. "Nice shot by the way," he added.

She looked at him, trying to figure out if he was being sarcastic or not.

Then they showed Ashley, Jay, and the girl from 9 and it was over.

"How'd she die?" Ricky asked. Neither of the others knew.

"Well, it's your turn on guard Ricky," Quidley said.

David looked at Warren. "Your district partner's dead," he told him.

He had been staying with Warren all day, doing all he could to make him feel better.

"Sh-she is?" he asked.

David nodded. Then an idea came to him. "Warren, did she have many sponsors?"

"D-Don't know," he replied.

"Well if she did then the money goes to you now that she's dead!"

Warren didn't seem to get it.

"Medicine? For you?" David said. Almost as soon as he did a silver parachute landed at his feet. The note read, There wasn't enough for Warren alone or I would have sent it sooner. Give it to him and it will make him regurgitate the berries.

David held up the bottle that had come on the parachute. "Hey Warren."

"Wh-what?"

"You ready to throw up again?"

The next morning was humid again, and it was starting to sprinkle rain when the tributes woke up.

"About time," said Ricky. "Almost feels like home!"

Then the Careers heard a voice from inside the Cornucopia.

"Hey,"

They turned around to see Achilles, sitting up in the sleeping bag they'd got him into.

"You're awake!" Ricky said.

"I was wondering," Achilles began, "If anyone would sponsor us a razor," he said, scratching his chin. "I need to shave!"

"Yeah that and some shaving cream would be good," said Quidley. He hadn't noticed it before, but now that Achilles said it he realized he needed to shave as well.

Ricky looked embarrassed. "I don't..."

Achilles laughed, then winced because it hurt. "I forgot how old you are!"

"I'm fifteen," he said. "My dad was saying I'd need to sometime soon but..."

Sapphire said, "Umm you guys are so weird... can we just drop the subject?"

"Well, it's bothering me now that he says it!" Quidley exclaimed. "I'm not used to having a beard!"

CLUNK. "I bet that's our sponsor gift," said Achilles.

Quidley went and got it, and sure enough it was a razor and some shaving cream.

"Hey, it's for you, Ricky!" Quidley said.

"What does the note say?" Achilles asked.

Quidley pulled it out. "It says, Show the kid how it's done! ~Finnick"

Early that afternoon, the rain was pouring hard. Chris stopped to rest under a tree and wondered how Cherry was doing.

With a jolt he realized he hadn't checked in on her once since the bloodbath and now it was day 4!

He got up as quickly as possible and dashed at top speed to the place where he had left her. He worried that the Careers had found her, or worse, the mutts. He shuddered as he remembered the terrible Nightlock Hawks from the second day.

He picked up the pace as he got closer, scared of what he would find. He got to the cave and saw it exactly the same as it had been three days earlier. He breathed a sigh of relief as he ducked to enter the cave and saw Cherry sitting near the back.

"I'm really sorry, I know I said I'd be here sooner but I-"

He couldn't finish the sentence because he was shoved against the cave wall with a knife at his throat.

"No...It's me..." he then made the conclusion that had not even crossed his mind before. "You...You were faking? That whole time?"

"Yes. I was. And luckily for me you were too stupid to see it."

The knife pressed harder at his throat, and he knew he was at her mercy.

"Don't do it," he begged. "Please... I only wanted to help you..."

"Don't make this harder than it already is!" she snapped. "I'm going to do it!"

"No, you're not!"

He didn't know how close she came to putting down the knife. He really was only trying to help her, that whole time. She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths.

She knew she had to do it. It was the only way.

"I'm really sorry," she whispered.

**BOOM**

Gil was out hunting for himself, Roxanne, and Jack. He had yet to catch anything, and he was ready to go back and tell them there was nothing to be found when he spotted a bird up in a tall tree. He aimed the gun and shot. But he missed.

The bird ruffled its feathers, which were shining too brightly to actually be feather. Then the bird flew straight at him! He realized too late what the bird was, it was of course a Nightlock Hawk. The bird's blade-feathers were the last thing he saw before the world went black.

**BOOM**

"A cannon!" yelled Roxanne.

"And Gil's still out hunting!" Jack exclaimed.

The two of them ran in the direction Gil had gone hunting in just in time to see Gil's body be taken up to the hovercraft. Gil looked a lot like Cobalt had when he had been killed, face bloody and disfigured.

"The bird mutts!" Jack muttered angrily as Roxanne started to cry again. Tears were starting to sting Jack's eyes as well.

"I'm going to find them," he said. "I'm going to find every last one of those Mutts and kill them all!"

"Jack, you and me are the only ones in the alliance left!"

"Are you coming with me then?"

"Of course I am," she said before breaking into sobs again.

The Careers could hear the cannon from the Cornucopia. Ricky, who had several cuts from Quidley and Achilles's shaving lesson, said immediately, "Who's left?"

"He's right," Achilles said. "There aren't many of us left."

That night the anthem showed the boys from 10 and 11, and the Careers started to do the math.

"Well, there's the four of us," said Ricky.

"Then there's that little kid from 9, he's still out there somewhere," Sapphire said.

"The burned dude from 12," Quidley added.

"Andi," said Achilles. "Errr... my District partner."

"Both from 7," Sapphire said.

"The boy from 5! I knew I didn't like him," Quidley exclaimed.

"And the girl from 11," Ricky finished.

"That's eleven tributes," Achilles said. "We're almost done."


	5. Chapter 5

**You guys wanna see who made the top 10 right?! RIGHT! So here it is! Read and Review! Pwease?**

* * *

Warren had thrown up several times after multiple doses of the medicine, and David had told him he could make it, that he would be all right. Without meaning to, the two boys had become very strong friends.

Warren had eventually felt well enough to get up and walk around the forest in the morning, and they had their first real conversation.

"District 9 is about the most boring place on earth," Warren complained. "You should be glad you don't live there!"

"District 12 isn't exactly Candyland either," David replied.

They were quiet for a few minutes, then Warren asked, "How did you get your..." he motioned at his face.

"Oh..." David had never talked to anybody about the bombing, save for Plutarch Heavensbee, but he felt a strange connection to the boy. So he took a deep breath and began.

"It was a pretty normal day in 12, I was a tailor's son and-"

"Was?"

"My parents are dead now."

"Oh."

"Well I was delivering some clothes to the baker's house when a huge hovercraft came, it was so big it looked like it was blocking out the sun, and that's all I saw before

I woke up in a hospital bed a week later like...this."

"So what happened?"

"The Capitol bombed the District because they didn't like how Katniss, the Mockingjay, was helping the districts rebel."

"I remember the rebellions," said Warren with a shiver, "It was so scary! I wasn't allowed out of the house for weeks while there were mobs!"

"Hey Warren, what's that?" David asked, seeing a glint of silver out of the corner of his eye.

"I don't- AAAAAHHHHHH!"

Warren had been head-butted into a tree so hard David heard a crack. Whether it was the tree or Warren, David didn't know and he didn't want to.

It was a strange creature, it was silver with horns that looked more like swords and somewhat resembled a bear. David didn't really care what it was, he just knew it  
hurt his friend and that was enough for him.

He charged at the bear-like creature with his spear and tried to pierce the animal's hide with the sharp point, but it was like trying to pierce a table with a plastic knife.

With a frustrated yell he continued the attack with renewed vigor but the animal would not budge. Then it spun around, flipping David off its back. He was sprawled on the ground, he got back up but the animal sliced his arm open with dirty claws before giving a mighty roar and charging off somewhere else.

With tears threatening to take over, David crawled over to Warren while clutching his arm. "Warren are you alright?" He asked desperately. "Warren talk to me!"

"Hey Elliott," he said drowsily.

David was confused. "My name's not Elliott-"

"David!" he said urgently. "David..." his eyes closed.

"WARREN!"

His eyes opened part way. "David..."

"Yeah, I'm here Warren. What is it?"

"I wanted you to know... And Elliott too... That... That... David, you were more of a brother to me than Elliott ever was..." With that his eyes closed forever.

The tears that had been threatening to spill over now flooded down David's cheeks as he said his last goodbyes to his only friend in the world.

**BOOM**

Jack and Roxanne had searched through the woods in search of a Nightlock Hawk with no results. Jack said, "We're not going to find them unless they want to be found."

When he saw Roxanne was not paying attention to him. "Hey," he said, and she jumped.

"Sorry..." she said, blushing. Jack frowned suspiciously. What was going on?

At the Cornucopia there were cheers all around as Sapphire, Quidley, Achilles, and Ricky had all made it to the final ten. Someone had sponsored them all bottles of root beer and they were having a night off of tribute hunting.

Ricky and Achilles were joking about Ricky's disastrous first shaving while Quidley sat on a rock behind the Cornucopia, staring at the castle. He was thinking about winning, and how him winning would mean Sapphire's death, and the other way around. Both were scenarios he was not really a fan of.

She came around to the back of the Cornucopia where he was. "I'm sooo bored of those guys talking about 4's shaving, I mean seriously!"

Then she fell silent and so was Quidley. Then he spoke up. "You know, if I wasn't going to be the one to win then I'd want it to be you."

"Yeah me too," she replied. "I mean I'd want you to win if it couldn't be me."

He felt his spirits lift at that. "Really?"

"Yeah, it would still be a District 1 victory right?"

"Oh... right," that was not exactly the reason he had wanted.

"Well, Achilles sent me to tell you that you had guard duty tonight," she said. Then she got up and left him there thinking about everything.

The anthem played, showing only the boy from 9.

Cherry still felt guilty about tricking Chris for unexplained reasons. She had known she was going to do it since the first day. As she walked along the edge of the arena she heard voices and rustling. She froze and dared not to move, thinking it was another mutt.

Then the source of the noise came out of the bushes. It was the Careers. Of course.

She should have known better, of course now that there were four Careers in the final 10 they would be going on major hunts to pick off all the others.

One of the boys, the one from 4, said, "Achilles! Over there!"

Achilles sighed. "Ricky, they're not supposed to know we're here!"

It was too late. The girl from 11 was already running away.

"Hey, wasn't that the blind one?" Quidley asked.

"Yah it was," Achilles replied. "Guess it was all a ploy. Get her Sapphire!"

She aimed the bow and let the arrow fly, she was glad she had been sponsored some arrows the day before, they were really coming in handy.. It hit its mark on the back of the girl's head.

**BOOM**

The Careers all high fived each other at another tribute down.

As they continued the hunt, again like a few days before they saw someone dash away.

Achilles's heart stopped when he realized it was Andi.

And again, Sapphire said, "You guys see that!"

"See what?" Achilles asked innocently, even though he'd seen it too.

"You know," she said.

"No! I don't!"

The look in Quidley's eye said that he had seen her too.**  
**  
David stood at the cliff face, looking upward. Throughout his whole time in the arena he had wondered what would happen if someone tried to climb it, and he decided to see. Maybe it let out of the arena! First, though, he took the spear and broke the head off the top so it was a small weapon. He then dug it into his arm and cut out the tracker.

He dropped the bloody device on the ground and started to climb. With a grunt he pulled himself onto a ledge, enjoying the free feeling he had without his tracker.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey Guys! Another LONG chapter! I hope you like it! Read and Review! I call this one, A long way down**

* * *

**The Gamemakers' Room!**

"Where is he!" Mikah asked, panicked. "Never in 75 years have we lost a tribute, until now! His tracker is right there," she said, jabbing a finger at the screen, "but

WHERE IS THAT BOY! Search the arena!" she ordered the Gamemakers.

After five minutes of worried searching, a cry came out.

"I've found him!"

It was Shark Valler, inventor of the Nightlock Hawks. "He's up there! He's actually trying to climb the cliff!"

"Well we can't have that!" Mikah said, frustrated. "Send one of those hawk things at him, Valler!"

"Willingly," he said.

**The Arena**

The Hawk dive-bombed David before he could think what was happening. "AHH!" he cried out in shock. He picked up the spearhead and brandished it at the hawk, trying to intimidate it. He jabbed at the hawk, and it flew back to get him again.

Then David somehow got the spearhead into the Hawk's throat, and it fell down, dead. David smiled for the first time since Warren's death.

What he didn't realize was that he was far too close to the edge of the cliff. He stepped back just half a step, and his feet were on thin air. He flailed his arms wildly to no avail, and David Sternam plummeted off the cliff face.  
**  
BOOM**

When the Careers got back to the Cornucopia, Sapphire whispered to Quidley, "We need to talk. Get behind the Cornucopia as soon as you can."

He nodded his agreement.

When Quidley came, Sapphire was already there.

"I didn't bring Ricky because he's too close to Achilles."

"Well so what?"

"Just let me talk alright? In the hunt, Achilles's district partner Andi went right by us and he knew it. I know he did and you knew it too. This is just getting out of hand."

"I agree. She's all he's been thinking about since day one."

"Yeah, and it's up to us to fix that problem."

"Oh I see where you're going with this. Tonight?"

"Tonight."

That night after the anthem, showing Cherry and David, the Careers went to sleep. Ricky was the guard. Early that morning, around 3:00 Sapphire got up and kicked Quidley, who groaned.

"Quiet down stupid!" she whispered.

"Is it time?"

"Yes, smart one."

Achilles woke up to severe pain in his heel. He tried to get up and instead shrieked in pain. His right leg was in terrible, terrible pain. He opened his eyes to see Sapphire and Quidley leering down at him, Sapphire with a large jagged knife.

"Hello there Mister Leader Man," she said.

"What did you-" he groaned.

"Oh so you've noticed, have you? Yes, that's right, we cut your Achilles Tendon. So now, you can't walk!"

Achilles's eyes widened in shock. "You-"

"Yeah we did! You're becoming too much of a lover boy for your own good."

"Of course you didn't think we hadn't noticed!" said Quidley in mock surprise. "No, all you think about is Andi,"

"It's quite a surprise we hadn't done this sooner," Sapphire continued. "Well guess what? Quidley has the spear and he's going to kill you. But not until after he kills your little lover Andi WITH YOU WATCHING," she spat.

"Hey what are you guys doing?" Ricky asked.

"Oh we forgot about him," Quidley said awkwardly. The two of them turned to deal with Ricky, and Achilles thought, I have to warn Andi!

So while Sapphire and Quidley were still turned away from him, he used the arm strength he had been developing for the last ten years and propelled himself away from the Cornucopia, away from the meadow. He knew it was a hopeless effort, but he had to try something, anything, to warn Andi.

The medicine had been given to Jason days ago, but no matter how much of it he used the burn came back worse than ever. And he was currently out of medicine.

Around 2:00 that morning, for the first time in days, he had managed to get a fitful sleep. Whe he woke up he felt worse than ever, and the fact suddenly registered to him that he was going to die.

And he still hadn't thought of a way to tell Kale about the cardstock he'd stolen from Psych what seemed like decades ago.

As he took short, ragged breaths he thought of a way. He gathered all the strength he had left to speak, and said as loudly as he could, "I'm about to die. I know I am." as he was speaking he took out the cardstock from his pocket and began scooping out dirt from the ground. "I do have a last wish, however."

He thought the shallow hole he'd scooped out was deep enough and he placed the cardstock in.

"I would like... my brother Kale... to visit...the... the place where I... died. I'd like...him...I'd like him to stand right here-" he patted the dirt down over the cardstock- "And see... my place of death..." He knew he was moments from death, he made an almost imperceptible X with his finger over the spot where he'd buried the cardstock.

"It's...important," he wheezed. Then he took his final breath,  
**BOOM**

At noon Achilles was drenched in sweat, and he had not found Andi. He had been dragging himself along with his hands for most of the day and his arms were beginning to ache. He then dragged himself into a clearing, where to his shock and joy, Andi was cooking what appeared to be frogs.

She picked up a branch that had been sharpened to a point and charged at him in rage, but stopped short when she saw the state he was in. She lowered the branch.

"What happened to you?"

"Careers," he gasped. "They betrayed me... cut my Achilles tendon..."

"That's cruel," she snapped angrily.

Achilles laughed weakly. "Yeah, it is."

"Why did they do that?"

He just shook his head. "Said...they're coming after you next."

"What?"

"They are. Had...had to warn you!"

"What can I do?"

An idea came to Achilles that he had not thought of before.

"The castle!" he exclaimed."No one's tried to go in it before!"

"Excellent come on!"

"What?"

"You're coming too!"

"No, I'm not! I can't! I'm..." he paused for a moment. "I'm incapacitated... I thought you hated me anyway,"

"Yeah, I do, but you did warn me the Careers were coming for me so that's got to count for something."

"I'm never going to be able to keep up with you," he protested.

"You trained for a decade right?"

"Yes I did."

"Then you can."

Jack's suspicion of Roxanne only grew as time went on. Almost every time he talked to her she would stammer and blush, then look away. He was sure she was hiding something.

But he never said anything. They would hunt for Hawks in the day, never finding any of course, and at night he would never go to sleep in the worries that the Hawks would come at night. And, most of the Careers group were still out there.

But that night when she suggested that Jack get some sleep and she would keep watch his suspicion went over the top. He took deep breaths, trying not to yell in anger and instead deciding to wait and see what she was up to. She clearly didn't know that he was on to her!

That night the anthem played showing the boy from 5.

"It's almost over," Achilles said. "There are only 7 of us left."

"The tributes from 1 are still out there, I wonder why they haven't found us yet."

They had been forced to travel at a ridiculously slow pace due to Achilles's injury and avoiding the meadow made the trip take even longer.

"I think we'll be at the castle by around noon tomorrow," she said.

"You could be there in half an hour if you left me and ran for it," he reminded her. "Why don't you just leave me here?"

"Well that's an easy question."

"Alright then let's hear the answer."

"Human shield. When the Careers shoot at me I'll need it"

He stared at her, just stared.

"Okay I'm kidding. But you did warn me and they want you too."

Quidley had managed to convince Ricky that what they had done was what was necessary to win and he was fully on their side in tracking down the two from District 2.

"We can't go back to the Cornucopia, we'd lose too much ground," Quidley explained.

"Why don't we just not sleep?" Sapphire asked. "In a few days we're all either going to be dead or in the Capitol."

Quidley shrugged. "True enough. Come on guys. Let's keep moving."

Achilles and Andi made it to the castle at around noon the next day, just like Andi had predicted.

"Go get the door open!" Achilles called. His gaze darted around nervously. He didn't like that they were so exposed now, out of the cover of the woods.

She made her way over to the door and grabbed the handle, but it passed right through her hand!

"Achilles, it's fake!" she exclaimed in despair.

"What? No, it can't be! Not something that big!" He reached out to open the door and his hand passed through it too."This is stupid. the whole castle is an illusion!" He tried to bang on the door but his fist went right through the strong wooden door like it was a mist.

As they were trying in vain to prove the castle was a real, solid object they didn't notice the three tributes sneak out of the woods on the opposite side of where they had come from.

"Get your bow ready," Quidley hissed. Sapphire nodded and took out an arrow from her quiver.

Suddenly Andi fell. Achilles scrambled over to her side as fast as he could and the Careers fled. Achilles noticed the arrow in the dead center of her chest.

Her breaths came short and ragged gasps, and the blood was seeping from the wound.

"Don't die on me!" he whispered. "No now would be a really bad time to do that! Hey any time would be a bad time but come on..."

"I'm... sorry,"

"Sorry? For what? It's me who should be sorry! I'm the one who-"

"That whole time...I... I judged you. I judged you by... by your status and... not who you really are."

Tears stung his eyes as she continued.

"I now realize who... who the true enemy... is. It... was never you... The Capitol... they take... everything... friendship... family... and love," she looked at him as she said the last word.

**BOOM**

The tears were flowing freely, especially at her last words. He took deep breaths, trying not to wonder what would have happened had she not died...

"We now make up half the remaining tributes," Quidley commented.

"Cool!" Ricky exclaimed. "One of us is gonna win, I just know it!"

They walked along in silence for a while then Ricky asked, "Why was Sapphire so mad that Achilles liked that other girl anyway?"

"Watch it, 4," she said in a warning tone.

Then Quidley laughed. It hurt more than anything but he understood why she had been so determined to kill Andi.

"What are you laughing at?" she snapped.

"You want to know why Ricky?"

"Uhh yeah"

"She was JEALOUS!" It caused him even more pain to say it.

"What seriously?" Ricky started to laugh too!

"Yeah she was! Weren't you?" he asked.

They had gotten back to the Cornucopia.

The two boys continued their laughter. Ricky had a genuine laugh, while Quidley's was more maniacal.

**BOOM**

The meadow fell silent. Sapphire stood over her kill, holding a broadsword. She just stood there staring at her latest victim, Quidley.

Ricky stood over by the weapons pile, pale and wide eyed. "You...you.." he could not form a complete sentence.

Her back was still turned to him. Ricky was dazed and his mind had mysteriously gone fuzzy.  
**  
BOOM**

Ricky withdrew the spear. "Maybe there's no room for a lover boy in the Careers," he whispered, "But there's no room for a traitor either."

He ran into the woods, horrified at the thought of his first kill.

**District 4 room**

Aspen almost kicked the screen, he knew those Careers were going to be bad news. Finnick looked over at him. "Dude what's going on?"  
He did not reply, just stared at the screen, wondering if in the end, Ricky would die with his feet on love after all.

**The Arena**

That night the anthem showed the girl from 2 and both from 1.

The next morning Jack noted, "They're speeding things up, it'll be over in two, three days at the most."

Roxanne shuddered at the thought of all but one of them being dead in such a short time.

Jack picked up a spear. "That means we don't have much time left to hunt those birds! We have to get moving!"

All morning they searched. Then Jack lost sight of Roxanne and he began to worry. Never turn your back on the enemy, he thought.

Then she came around a large tree and he breathed a sigh of relief. Then he saw the silver fabric sticking out of her (formerly Gil's) black bag.

He ran over to her and she stiffened. In guilt, he thought. He pulled the silver parachute out of the bag with some bread and cheese.

"And you were going to tell me about this WHEN?"

"I- I- it sort of, slipped my mind-"

"IT'S A SPONSOR GIFT! HOW DOES IT JUST "SLIP YOUR MIND?" Well that's it. I've known it for days now. This alliance is over."

"But-"

He had already turned away then Roxanne heard the rumbling, and she looked up to see where it came from. Her eyes widened. "JACK!" She screamed.

He's going to notice too late! she thought, and took off at a full sprint and shoved Jack three feet forward, and the massive boulder falling from the cliff face hit her instead.

"Roxanne?" Jack asked. He saw everything: the rock, her, and the fate she had saved him from. She had really been on his side all along.

"I'm sorry I ever thought you betrayed me!" was all he had time to get out before the  
**  
BOOM**


	7. Chapter 7

**Final Chapter, and THE FINAL 3 FINAL 3 FINAL 3! Gosh. After This one I'm starting The 78th Hunger Games, Games Of Eternal Woe. Look for it! Also the reason this chapter is late is because my computer was being annoying and I couldn't get on anything! Sorry for the wait, Read And Review!**

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Achilles was dragging himself along the edge of the arena. It had gotten incredibly humid early that morning, and it was around 11:00.

Then the rain came, first in small droplets then a heavy downpour. The rain mixed with the tears he was still crying for Andi.

He felt hollow inside, like something that had always been there was suddenly stolen.

There was a flash of lightning. A sudden intense pain shot up the leg that Sapphire had cut his Achilles tendon, and he fell face first.

The last thing he saw was leaves and mud before the world went black.

Jack decided to head to the meadow, it was the best place to be when the Gamemakers decided to finish things up. He went into the

Cornucopia, outside the rain had stopped, all was still, and the sky had turned a sickly green color.

In the Cornucopia was the boy from 4.

Ricky had decided to come back to the Cornucopia after Sapphire and Quidley's bodies had been taken away. It was the only place he had ever felt secure in the terrible arena. He remembered his shaving lesson with Quidley and Achilles and all the fights the two tributes from District 1 had gotten into.

The air was stifling and the sky had turned an odd color, he noticed. Then a shadow fell across the entrance to the Cornucopia. The boy from 7.

Jack pulled Ricky up and led him out of the Cornucopia. Outside a dark ominous cloud had fallen over the arena. A wall cloud, Ricky thought.

The two boys stood there, not moving, not saying a word, then the dark cloud began to stir. There's the funnel, Ricky thought. A funnel cloud was bad, it always meant a tornado was coming, he remembered from his father's fishing lessons.

Jack had made up his mind what to do. Well, what he was going to do. He grabbed a double edged sword and tossed Ricky one as well.

"This is it," he told him. "We're the final 's down to us."

He raised his sword and saw Ricky do the same.

Ricky also knew what he was going to do. He had been shocked and haunted by the fact that he had killed and would make sure there would be no more blood on his hands.

The boys prepared a fighting stance...

Both boys' swords killed the bearers.

**BOOM BOOM**

**The Gamemaker room**

President Snow burst in, red faced and angry.

"WE HAVE NO VICTOR MIKAH!" he bellowed. "I THOUGHT YOU WOULD BE BETTER THAN THE OTHERS! BUT NOOO YOU CAN'T EVEN MANAGE TO SCRAPE UP A VICTOR FOR ME!"

No one in the room had ever seen President Snow so visibly mad. Mikah flinched away from his anger. A sweating Shark Valler hurried up to her and whispered something in her ear, then her expression calmed.

"As it so happens, President, I have."

The Capitol.

Everything was much too bright. Achilles groaned and noticed he was no longer lying in the muddy leaves in the arena but in a bright white hospital bed.

He rubbed his head, which was aching terribly.

Then his father burst in. "I took a train from 2 as soon as I heard you won," he said. He looked flustered and out of breath but still managed to speak.

"Well done son! I knew you would do it, I knew it from the day you were born!"

Achilles could only stare. He had won!

It was the day he had been waiting for since age ten, but somehow it didn't feel as good as he had imagined. In fact, it felt really crummy, especially after losing...

Her.

"Achilles?" His dad asked worriedly, thinking his son had turned out like that Cresta girl from six years ago. "Come on son. You're stronger than that."

"Hey Dad," he said, the first sign of life he had shown since winning.

"Oh you're awake!" he said happily. "You were great," he said, lying through his teeth. He had actually screamed and busted the TV screen a couple times, but he didn't want his son to know that, because of what he had been through and what he had yet to know about the... change to his body.

"There's something else you should know," Mr Thornton continued. He went over to Achilles's bed and pulled back the spotless white sheets. "I told the doctors to let me be the one to tell you."

Achilles looked down at his right foot, where his tendon had been cut. Instead of the bloody mess it had been for the past few days, his foot was clean and he looked like a cyborg.

Yeah, a cyborg. There was a metal device not only on his ankle but in it, and the skin and the metal were fused together.

"The foot was fine, all they needed to fix was the ankle," his dad explained. "It was either that or a prosthetic foot."

"How... how did I win?"

"The two other boys killed themselves. There was a bit of panic until someone remembered you lying in the mud."

He got up. "One of the District 4 mentors wants to talk to you," he said before he left.

In the hallway, Aspen stood waiting for the boy's father to leave. There was something he needed to talk to him about.

_"Aspen, there is a line between War and Love. Find your place on that line and stand there and fight. If you stand in the middle you'll always be torn and you need to find that place." I don't have a clue what he's saying, but he continues, "I placed my feet on the line and stood till' well." I know what he means he means until the death. He smiles at me and continues on "You may not know what that means yet but you will." I look at Marcellus and figured out what he means. He placed his feet on love that is why he killed all Sinatalla's tributes. For us. _

_"You wanted us to live." I say._

_He nods, "I placed my feet on love, you guys were like the coolest people I could ever meet."_

_"What do I do?" I ask desperately. He shakes his head. _

_"Let your heart guide your feet and your mind lead your spear. You need to find your place where you stand and never stop believing in where you stand and why you stand there." He gasps for a bit and I give him some pain reliever and he smiles._

_"Leana..." then he dies. I hear the cannon and I start to feel the tears again. This time the tears don't ever stop. Marcellus died with his feet on love.*_

Finally, he's allowed into the hospital room. He remembered the room from his own Games, eight years ago, he had been a crying wreck. Was it really only eight years? he thought. It seemed like a lifetime.

The boy, Achilles looked at him questioningly as he entered.

"I need to tell you something a friend told me a long time ago. He was the best friend I've ever had and he gave me the best advice I'll ever get."

Five days later Achilles was out of recovery and the first thing he had to do was his Victor interview.

Surprisingly his stylist, the same one who had dressed him in a sparkly cape for the chariot parade, gave him only black pants, black dress shoes, and a black shirt and tie.

He felt it fit him a lot better than any sparkles ever would.

Right before he was to go onstage, his stylist, Ravish, said to him, "I saw what happened in the arena. You and that girl..."

When Ravish could not see them he rolled his eyes back in an attempt to stop the flood of tears threatening to make a comeback.

Caesar greeted him when he came onstage. "You seem to have toned down your ensemble since we last saw you," he said, looking at Achilles's black clothes.

"Yeah, it was cramping my style," he replied in a husky voice.

"Well, we have this year's official Games recap, then we'll get to the interview."

The recap started with the first reaping, of course. The rush of anger he felt at seeing Sapphire and Quidley was almost enough to make him jump out of his chair and run at the screen yelling Traitors!

Then was his district, which was even more painful to watch, if that was possible. She was there. He had taken to calling her by pronouns because any mention of the name meant the potential of a new ocean, or at least a large lake.

Then came the chariot rides, with him in the sparkly nightmare.

After that was training, where she had turned down the offer of the Careers. He and the others had trooped around the training center, recruiting.

Interviews, where he had said he was going to try and win for his mom, and his aunt Camira Dyllan.

Caesar interrupted there. "I think you made both of them proud."  
New tears sprang to his eyes, and that time they had nothing to do with her. He wondered if his mom would ever forgive him for the lie he had lived for half of his life, and how close he had come to the same fate as her sister.

When the actual Games started it was a little better to watch, as most of the coverage featured him and the Careers, not her.

Several times his breath caught in his throat and he had to choke back the tears when they did show her.

But when Sapphire readied her arrow then let it fly straight at her he felt like he would be torn apart with the grief. He had not been fully conscious when it had happened and now reliving it was almost more than he could bear.

Finally the long, pain-filled scene was over, and for the rest of the time he was laying in the mud at the edge of the arena.

The two boys killed each other, and he won.

He could see why they did it. It would be easier to face death than live with the pain and devastation.

It was time for his Victor interview, the part of winning he had been dreading. He desperately pleaded Caesar not to ask him about her.

He did not. Instead they talked about his training regime, what his life would be like now he was a Victor, and finally, his cyborg heel.

When it was over he was relieved, but in a different way than he was used to. Instead of the sharp, throbbing pain he had felt for the last few hours, he had reverted back to the hollow, empty sensation he had experienced in the arena.

The next day he could finally go home. He was alone on the train, because his father, who had become an instant celebrity in the Capitol, had stayed behind for interviews and all that junk.

After getting off the train, a large car took him to his house, where his mom greeted him at the door. She did not seem mad at all, just crying tears of joy that he had come back to her alive.

Chapter 26 ~ Sour Victory

Six months later he had to go on his victory tour. It started in District 12. He wished it had started somewhere else, as he had killed the girl from that district in the bloodbath.

District 11 was a little less painful as he had never spoken to either of their tributes.

District 10 was also a pain free district, though his heart twinged a little at the sight of the girl's mom weeping openly on the stage.

District 9 was pretty bad only because of the haunted look on one of a boy's face. He guessed it was Warren's brother.

District 8 was bad. There was only one family, since Jay and Ashley had been twins, and no siblings were standing around the parents. Mr. and Mrs. Alson had later thanked him for trying to rescue their daughter at the risk of his own life.

District 7 he could breathe slightly easier as he had not known either tributes.

District 6 frightened him a bit when he saw the huge bunch of kids for the boy's family, and remembered his gory death.

District 5 was strange to say the least. The boy's only family was a guy that looked about his age. He had introduced himself as Kale and had asked him to the side if he knew anything about why Jason's last words were to come to the place of his death. Achilles had apologized, saying he hadn't known the boy very well, and Kale had walked away with a pensive expression.

District 4 was just terrible, because Ricky had been from there and all he could think about was the kid's shaving lessons.

District 3 wasn't bad because he had been absent from both of the tributes' deaths.

District 1 had to have been the worst, though, because of Quidley and Sapphire, the filthy traitors. He thought about her holding the long jagged knife that had disabled him.

The Capitol was a blur of color, food, and noise, and afterward he didn't remember much of it due to the fact that he had already been on the road twelve days and was incredibly fatigued.

District 2 all he had done was stood on the stage then dashed back to his house, which was near District 2's Justice Building to try and block the pain of seeing her family, with her gruff father and two young siblings.

And his experience in the Hunger Games was over.

Chapter 27 ~ Sappy but Hopefully Satisfying Conclusion

About three weeks before the reaping President Snow had come to visit him. About four weeks prior had been his nineteenth birthday.

"You will have a lot of work on your hands, Mr Thornton," he said.

When Achilles did not reply, he continued. "Enobaria has requested to withdraw from mentoring duties permanently."

He would be mentoring both kids.

"And I expect you to train both of them to the best of your ability," he finished, giving Achilles a "Look of Doom."

He had then left.

Achilles looked out of the large bay window in his new, glamorous home in the Victors Village. From this view he could see the school, where two teams, one of boys, one of girls, were having soccer practice.

In three weeks time he would have to train up two tributes to fight to the death in the same torture chamber he had been through, repeating the process every year.

Every girl would remind him of the strong willed fighter that he had come to love, only to watch her be killed by those he had once called his friends.

And every boy would remind him of the naive warrior that had once volunteered to fight, and it had taken the death of his only love for him to see what exactly he was fighting for.

* * *

***That was from The 68th Hunger Games. **


End file.
